Candle follower



R. H. CHURCHILL CANDLE FOLLOWER April 11, 1950 Filed Feb. 1, 1946 Patented Apr. 11, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CANDLE FOLLOWER Ralph H. Churchill, Chicago, 111.

Application February 1, 1946, Serial No. 644,897

Claims. (01. 67-21) This invention relates to a candle follower which follows the candle downwardly during its burning, and possesses superior qualities and enables the creation of a smokeless and more effective flame.

Candle followers, as heretofore known, have been unsatisfactory for many reasons, such as being made of metal which unduly conducts the heat to the points of contact of the follower with the candle and too rapidly melts the wax and sometimes breaks the seal; not satisfactorily sealing the pool of melted wax; not properly adjusting themselves to the candle as it shortens; falling on when the candle is substantially consumed and either breaking the follower, or creating a mess from the remaining pool of molten wax; not being of the proper shape; not properly taking care of a particle of grease or wax on the outside of the candle; giving a smoky flame; and many other shortcomings; all of which have been overcome by the present invention.

Among the objects of my invention are: to overcome the disadvantages, and accomplish the advantages, referred to above; to provide a novel and improved candle follower; to provide a candle follower havin means for eliminating a smoky flame, comprising what I term a carburetor, which gives proper control of the volume of air admitted to the flame and, heating the gas from the burning wax at the proper location by conducting the heat from the flame downwardly the right amount; to provide a follower of non-conducting material, that will automatically right itself after being swung sidewise, and will prevent the breaking of the seal even when swung sidewise; to provide a base of non-conducting material, i'or supporting the candle; to provide a base having at its candle-contacting end a tapered neck of substantially the same conical taper as that within the neck of the follower; to provide a follower that flares outwardly at its open bottom, and is unsupported except by its neck at the points of contact with the candle; and such further objects, advantages and capabilities inherently possessed by my invention, as will later more fully appear.

My invention further resides in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and while I have, for illustrative purposes only, shown therein a preferred embodiment, I wish it understood that the same is susceptible of modification and change without departing from the spirit of my invention.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a candle having applied thereto a follower embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing the candle as being substantially consumed.

, Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the coiled wire of the carburetor, and showing in dotted lines a fragmentary portion of the follower neck with the carbnretor mounted thereon.

In the form shown for illustrative purposes in the drawing, my improved candle follower comprises a base member I to which is secured an upstanding pedestal 2 having at its upper end a tapered portion 3 formed with a flat top 4 to which the bottom end of a candle 5 may be secured in any manner such as softening the bottom end of the candle and causing it to adhere to the surface t of the pedestal. As will be understood, the bottom end of the candle can be secured to the top of the pedestal 2 in any other manner than that described above, as desired. Mounted upon the candle 5 is my improved candle follower 6 formed with a frusto-conical skirt 7 and outwardly and downwardly tapered so that the main body portion of the skirt stands a substantial distance away from the candle. Integrally fixed to the top of the skirt is a neck 8, the neck 3 merging into the skirt with a combin d curve 9 and a tapered portion 10.

The candle follower is made of non metallic material which will not unduly conduct heat therealong, especially from the neck to the top edge of the candle. It is important to note that the taper 3 at the upper end of the pedestal 2 is substantially the same as the taper In at the juncture of the skirt with the neck, so that when the candle is substantially all consumed said taper ill at the upper end of the follower will seat itself upon the taper 3 of the pedestal with a tight seal to prevent leakage of any melted wax from the pool of molten wax within the neck. The candle may initially be of any desired length and, as will be understood, after the candle has been burned a considerable length of time it will be greatly consumed and during such consumption the follower, due to gravity, will follow the candle downwardly as it is burned until the fol lower ultimately seats itself on the taper 3 of the pedestal as described above, as seen in Fig. 2. This seal between the follower and the top of the pedestal will be further augmented by a thin film of wax formin between the taper 3 and the taper It.

The shape of the taper I0 and the curvature 9 in the juncture between the skirt and the neck are such as to permit a swinging movement of the follower with relation to the candle without breaking the seal between the follower and the pool of molten wax in the neck. Should the follower by any means have its skirt 1 swung sidewise with relation to the candle and temporarily remain in such sidewise swung position, this would position one edge of the neck at a higher lever than the opposite edge of the neck. The higher edge of the neck would thus be closer to the flame ll than the lower edge, this higher edge thus becoming hotter because of its closer proximity to the flame. This additional heat would melt the wax on the high neck side of the candle faster than on the opposite edge of the candle thus very soon causing the follower to right itself and its skirt and neck to stand in an upright position, as shown in Fig. l. The follower will at all times move downwardly along the candle in proportion to the amount of consumption of wax, and continuously during such downward movement will eiifectively seal the molten wax within the neck regardless of whether or not the skirt is swung sidewise. As will of course be understood, the inside diameter oi the neck is somewhat smaller than the outside diameter of the candle. It is also to be noted that the height of the pedestal is suilicient to maintain the bottom edge of the skirt of the follower freely suspended. in the air when the candle is completely consumed, thus avoiding any possibility of the follower striking other objects and falling over and breaking or causing a mess arising from the spilling of any remaining pool certain amount of tilting of the follower without breaking the wax seal, but also keeps the follower cool. As shown in the drawing the follower is made of glass, although other nonheat-conductmg material may be used if desired.

I have also provided means for increasing the efiicieney or the flame H, which means comprises what I choose to term a carburetor l2 made up of a coiled wire having vertically spaced coils I3 positioned substantially concentrically in the neck and preferably at a height with one or more of the coils above the upper edge of the neck and one or more coils below the upper edge of the neck as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. This coiled wire hasa, portion extending radially or otherwise outwardly from the central coils to the side wall of the neck. where it may be formed in any mamaer to be attached to the top edge of the neck. One form of such attaching portion is shown in Fig. 4 as comprising two or more spaced coils i4 positioned at right angles to the central coils so that the supporting coils may he slipped over the edge oi the neck to maintain the central coils in proper position with relation to the flame and the wick, which position is preferably concentric with the neck.v This arrangement of the central coils in the carburetor gives an effective control of the volume of air admitted to the flame and creates a sufficient turbulence of the air within the neck to give a more complete combustion for the flame and prevents smoking of the flame. This prevention of smoking of the flame is an important feature of my invention, since, as is well known, a smoky candle flame will cause particles of soot to be present in the air and be undesirable for many reasons inciuding the falling of soot particles on a table cloth, table cover, or other articles in the room. The turbulence of the air in and around the central coils I3 may be varied by varying the number and spacing of the coils, the size of the wire, and the height of the coils in the neck. The most effective position for the central coils is at the location where the gas is brought up to the critical temperature most eifective ror combustion. The coils are preferably of metal wire which becomes heated during burning of the flame, the heating of the coils greatly increasing the efficiency of the combustion of the flame. The wire of the central coils becoming heated will transfer the heat from the flame a desired distance down into the neck and thus bring the gas above the molten pool of wax up to a temperatu t i013 most efficient combustion.

I claim:

1. I a candle-burning device provided with means for supporting a wick-equipped candle, a neck member extending about the top portion of the candle, a support carried by said neck member, and a wire coil of substantially uniform diameter substantially greater than the diameter of the wick of said candle and maintained by said support in axial alignment with the wick whereby the major portion of the flame is inside and above the coil, said coil having its rounds spaced apart and the lowermost round thereof suspended in spaced vertical relation above the top of the candle, the diameter of the coil being substantially smaller than the diameter of the neck member to produce a large, robust, and non-smoking flame.

In a candle-burning device provided with means for supporting a wick-equipped candle, a. neck member about the top portion of said candle, a support fixed to said neck and extending inwardly above the top of the candle, and a tubular member, having ai-r passages extending transversely therethrough, carried by said support in axial alignment with the Wick of said candle, the diameter of said tube being substantially greater than the diameter of the wick whereby said tube may be moved relative to said wick without contacting the same and whereby the major portion of the flame is inside and above the tube, said tube having its lowermost part suspended in spaced relation above the top of the candle, the diameter of the tube being substantially smaller than the diameter of the neck member to produce a large, robust, and nonsmoking flame.

3'. In a candle-burning device provided with means for supporting a wick-equipped candle, a neck portion about the top portion of the candle, a wire carried by said neck and extending inwardly thereof, and a wire coil forming a continuation of said first-mentioned wire and having its diameter substantially smaller than the diameter of the neck member to produce a large, robust, and nonssmoking flame, said coil being suspended from said first-mentioned wire and having rounds spaced apart and of substantially uniform diameter, the diameter of said coil being substantially greater than the diameter of the wick and the lowermost round of said coil being suspended" so as to remain at a spaced distance above the top of the candle whereby the majorportion of the flame is inside and above the coil.

4. In a candle-burning device provided with means for supporting a wick-equipped candle, a follower having a neck portion narrower than the diameter of the candle and resting upon said candle, a portion of said neck extending above said candle top to provide an enclosure neck about said wick, said follower also having a skirt portion depending from said neck portion and extending about said; candle, and a wire carried by the spaced relation above the top of the candle, the

diameter of the coil being substantially smaller than the diameter of the neck member to produce a large, robust, and non-smoking flame.

5. In a candle-burning device, a pedestal equipped with a socket adapted to receive a wickequipped candle, said pedestal having an inclined upper face, a follower of transparent and heat-insulating material having a cylinder neck portion of a diameter less than the diameter of the candle and having an outwardly inclined skirt portion tapering at an angle equal to that of the top portion of said pedestal and conforming to an inclination at the top of said candle, said pedestal being of greater length than the skirt portion of said follower whereby when said candle is almost consumed the top portion of the skirt will engage the inclined surface of said pedestal to support the skirt above the surface upon which said pedestal rests, and a coil supported in axial alignment with the wick of said candle and having its diameter substantial- 1y: smaller than the diameter of the neck portion ofi'said follower to produce a large, robust, and non-smoking flame, and having also its lowermost coil in spaced relation above the top of the candle said coil being of greater diameter than the wick whereby the bulk of the flame from the wick is inside and above the coil.

I RALPH H. CHURCHILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,350,461 Knapp Aug. 24, 1920 2,092,471 Pomije Sept. 7, 1937 2,349,072 Bormann May 16, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 183 France of 1800 

